Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Thanks for the gentle nudge Sally! :-)

Well, she is right, it is time for an update. So, yet another post of changes. Is our life ever going to settle down? :-) Things are going well here. We are loving the congregation and being back with the friends and in the ministry again here in Cuenca.

We have news!! Do you want the good first or the bad? The bad? Ok, yeah, let's get that out of the way and move on, eh? haha Well, our jobs have come to an abrubt end :-( The company we work for has always had a little policy on working outside of the USA, but about a year ago, Chad explained our situation to them and they told him to just keep working until he heard from them. Well, last Tuesday we heard from them....and it appears they have decided to hold to their policy and not renew our contracts because we are living outside of the USA. Soooooo... we are trying not to panic, as Jehovah has always come thru for us before, but it is still a little stressful as you can imagine. We have enough savings to stay here for another 2 or 3 months, but that is about it, so here's hoping for the best!!! If anyone out there happens to know of any online work that CAN be done outside of the USA, please let us know :-)!!!

Ok, enough of the depressing stuff... on the bright side we have been approved for our Residency visa!! YAY!! We still have to tie up a little bit of paperwork and actually go to the capital for our ID cards to be official,, but yay!! We can stay!! That also means that we are able to work here if we find work, so we are exploring a few options working here with tourists or something. Any good ideas? Let us know!!!

Also... we are moving.. I know, I know, AGAIN!!! Well, as everyone in the house is working on a limited budget ;-) we have been considering for a while finding something cheaper. But, we didn't want to just settle either, we still wanted to have a place adequately large so that we could also have a guest room. About 2 weeks ago, a sister told us about a place near her that was for rent. We went to look at it and although not nearly as nice as what we have, it still has enough rooms for us to be happy and the best part is... it is $100/month cheaper!! YAY!! We were undecided at the moment... but when news of our job loss arrived, the little things I didn't really like about the house suddenly were not any problem at all!!! :-) And it is a nice house, we will be happy there. So, the big move will happen the end of the month. Anyone want to come and help us move? haha

The great thing about being forced back into retirement for now is that we are able to get back out in service even more!! Our contract ended on Tuesday.. and it just so happened that night we were starting the visit of our CO, so it really worked out nice that we could go out in service with them all week. Just from the increase in service that I have put in the last 2 weeks, I have started 3 potential bible studies!! (I just love Ecuador :-) Anyway, have to tell you what happened to me today... Chad and I were working door-to-door and we see a woman and her daughter approaching us. I thought they lived at the house where we were knocking, so I asked her that. And she says, "no, we don't live here. But, are you Evangelicals?" I let her know that we were Jehovah's Witnesses and she says, "Ahhh. Do you teach people the Bible?" Do we ever!!! haha So, I explained that we do and showed her the "Bible Teach" book. But she gets this worried expression on her face and kind of looks down and says, "but I don't know how to read". Awwww, cute! I explained that that was no problem, I would love to help her study her Bible. So, we exchanged info and she explained to me where she lives (I had to control the cringe when she pointed to a house waaaaaaay on the top of the mountain and tells me that is where she lives haha) But, I think Jehovah has been wanting me to test out my mountain climbing skills lately because almost all of my new potential studies are on that same mountain!!! (at the top, of course haha)

Anyway, so we parted ways and Chad and I still have to sit and marvel, although this has happened to me I think 4 times that someone here has approached me and asked for a bible study.. But you just never get used to the thrill!!! The hilarious thing is that tonight I was redoing my return visit book, adding my new visits and also going thru my old book from 2 years ago before we went to kichwa. I thought if I saw anyone in there that I would put them in my new book, revisit them and see if I could get their study going again. Guess who I found in my old book, written down with about 10 attempted return visits to start a study, but I never found her!!!! The same woman from today!!!!! I had only talked to her once, so I didn't recognize her, but there she was in my book!!! Two years later and SHE made the return visit!! and informally at that!!! hahaha

Ahhhh, it is hard to stay depressed about lack of work when you are out in the ministry!!!!

Ok, well, sorry there are no photos.. I keep forgetting my camera, but I am going to make a concentrated effort to start carrying it with me in service so I can give you something to look at!!! I also have pictures of the visit from "the cousins" that I just have to sort through and I will upload. We had a blast with them and miss them terribly!! Thanks guys for such a fun visit!!!

We love you all and miss you terribly!!! Thanks for your patience and for the kind reminders about my lack of blogging!!!! ...

9 comments:

Awh Michele so sorry to hear about your jobs - what a pain! You can always go around like the tamale lady and sell your choc chip cookies. I can just see you and Chad now with you basket between you yelling "Galletas"! I bet you would make a bomb! I am sure something will turn up though for you - it always has so far right? Nice experiences too by the way. Thanks for posting!

We love your blog! Just wondering if you could post what steps you had to take to get your residency visa? We are looking to move to Cuenca and need all the help/advice we can get. Your rv sounded wonderful! Look forward to hearing about your mountain climbing adventures! Wishing we were there instead of Minnesota, Tania C

We will keep you in our prayers that if it's Jehovah's will you will find work. I'm sure he will take good care of you! Congratulations on your Residency. Your experiences lift me up. It's like reading the yearbook. Ha, ha! I can't imagine what that's like to have someone walk up to you and ask for a Bible Study. Just shows why Jehovah hasn't brought the end yet. Enjoy your ministry and keep us informed on your work. We do care. Thank you for posting.

Hello there! I miss you guys so much. I am sorry to hear about your jobs, but I know that Jehovah WILL take care of you - as he always does. You are both such an encouraging example for me and I keep thinking about when I might be able to visit you again - if you'll have me. It has been too long. Please tell everyone there hello for me.

Hello cousins! I just re-found your blog off of Cory's blog. Sorry to hear about the Visa's, but as money seemingly fell from the sky before, I'm sure Jehovah will take care of it once again :) Hope you are doing well! I'm headed to Asia in a little over a month. Now you can't say I'm the cousin that stays in the country...haha. Hopefully I'll be a consistent blogger :) www.tyinthai.blogspot.com

Hi Katherine is my name. I'm from Australia. I've been trying to find a way to get in contact with you guys. My husband and I are moving to Ecuador and we've been thinking about Cuenca. We've visited Quito before and my family are about to serve near Azogues in Ecuador. Our move will most likely be in August and since it's our first time we'll be moving overseas we want to serve in an area were its not too hard to live. So we wanted to ask you guys some questions, if that was ok?

Hi, My husband and I are from Florida, approaching retirement and seriously considering a move to Ecuador. I am so glad and excited to find you friends who are living the experience and looking forward to following the blogs. We are not pioneers, so my question is how many have moved there not as pioneers, but simply to help where there is a greater need? Thanks so much. Looking forward to getting to meet new friends

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About Me

This is our third adventure here in Ecuador. As we have pioneered here, we have come to love Ecuador, the adorable brothers and sisters, and the interesting sights and sounds here. We hope to be able to share a small piece of that with you all through this blog.